Future Research Direction in Friction Welding, Friction Stir Welding and Friction Stir Processing

Abstract

Friction welding, friction stir welding an friction stir processing have been used extensively in various applications. The areas of application of these solid-state welding and processing keep expanding with the help of research advances in the technology. For example, some of the limitation of friction stir welding, which was only used to weld low melting alloys, has been overcome to a large extent as a result of research in material development. More work is still needed in terms of research to further advance these technologies and bring about the needed improvement in each of these processes. This chapter presents the future research direction that is required to further improve friction welding, friction stir welding and friction processing. Fourth Industrial Revolution is here, a number of manufacturing processes have evolved over the years and have to position themselves for this industrial revolution and friction stir welding is one of such manufacturing processes. The role of cloud computing in friction stir welding for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is also reviewed in this section.